Howard Reich

Doomed lovers were at the heart of Wednesday night’s Grant Park Orchestra concert, with principal conductor Carlos Kalmar officiating over their demise. Not that the evening was entirely dark, the...

Shemekia Copeland, the magisterial Chicago blues singer, comes on stronger, harder and wiser than ever in her incendiary new album, “America’s Child.” Yes, listeners have come to expect fervent vocals,...

It would take a hefty volume to chronicle all the far-flung ensembles in which Chicago reedist Ken Vandermark has performed and recorded. But one of the most intriguing will make...

Last summer, conductor Gemma New made a splash at the Grant Park Music Festival when conductor Simone Young suddenly had to rush to Australia for a family emergency. New –...

Chicago bassist-vocalist Katie Ernst is standing atop a hill in rustic Egg Harbor, Wis., where she’s teaching jazz at Birch Creek Music Performance Center. She’s hoping her altitude will help...

Was Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass” his foremost achievement or his biggest embarrassment? Was it a triumphant exploration of faith or a hodgepodge of too many musical languages? Or was it all...

Gustavo Dudamel owns a well-earned reputation as a dynamo of the podium, but his Ravinia Festival debut on Wednesday evening proved straightforward, serious and periodically exciting. Though the all-Beethoven program...

For the past 22 years, music lovers across the Chicago area have awoken to the sounds of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms … and Grapentine. Unlike the three Bs, the latter is...